The present invention relates to dual harmonica arrays and to dual harmonica receptacles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a particular dual harmonica arrangement whereby the holding of a harmonica combination and the separate playing of the component harmonicas is significantly facilitated.
Prior to the present invention, harmonica sets, such as the octave tuned bass having a lower natural tone section and an upper sharp and flat section, were joined by terminal U shaped foldable brackets. The two foot chord harmonica having an upper major chord section and a lower minor chord section also is held together by terminal foldable U shaped brackets permitting an inward and outward bending action from a common axis allowing a nominal degree of harmonica separation.
The aforementioned dual harmonica arrays with terminal brackets generally allows the player to hold the instrument while playing to a slow or regular beat. However, it is often difficult to achieve true separation of the harmonicas while playing the dual array to a fast or irregular beat. Recently, harmonica packs have become popular allowing the player to simulate playing a chromatic harmonica without a slide, by separately playing each harmonica using manual rotation to achieve a combination effect. However, it has been found that manual rotation of diatonic harmonicas also can be awkward.
The object of the present invention therefore is to provide various dual harmonica arrays allowing the positioning of the harmonicas in an uneven or asymmetric manner to facilitate the separate playing of the two harmonicas.
A second object of the present invention is to provide dual harmonica arrays having a handle attached to at least one of the two harmonicas to facilitate the control or holding of the harmonicas.
A third object of the present invention is to provide dual harmonica arrays where the two harmonicas are joined by terminal brackets allowing the harmonica to be randomly maintained in an asymmetric relationship.
Another object of the present invention is to provide dual harmonica arrays allowing the playing of one of the harmonicas without interference from the other harmonica.
A further object of the present invention is to provide dual harmonica arrays consisting of a lower forward and an upper rear harmonica and ready access to either harmonica during the playing of the harmonicas.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a dual harmonica array having an upper rear harmonica and a lower front harmonica, a handle attached to the front harmonica to facilitate the holding of the harmonica array, and a handle section attached to the upper rear harmonica to facilitate sliding the upper rear harmonica past the lower harmonica to facilitate its separate playing.
A further object of the present invention is to provide dual harmonica receptacles to maintain two harmonicas in a substantially parallel asymmetric relationship comprising terminal holders for upper and lower harmonicas, handles, and a means for laterally switching the upper and lower harmonicas to reverse their respective asymmetric position.
These and other objectives of the present invention will become apparent from the foregoing description.